How to End War
in Five Steps: Be the Parent
By Sage Justice
1. Treat both sides as children of the same parents, for we are one people on one planet. End war between countries using the same techniques one would use to end conflict between children.
2. Realize that bullies target small kids to get bigger kids to defend the weak and join the fight (Don’t. Join. The. Fight.). Responsible parents don’t join the battle, and don’t enable; they break it up and end it. Define the “parent” as those caregivers in closest proximity to the child who is causing mayhem. Parents are not elected, they are born. Each citizen plays a parental role in the country they serve. It’s the job of the “parents” to the leader in each country to isolate and rehabilitate the bad apple that can ruin the whole bunch. It takes moral courage and swift action to protect the innocent from the harm one destructive child can cause. Be brave and take action, for inaction makes one complicit in the harm caused.
3. Most importantly, protect the vulnerable and end the suffering immediately by doing what parents have done when one child is terrorizing another: restraint. The parent uses a “bear restraint” on the one who is causing harm. While doing so, the parent peacefully, yet firmly repeats over and over again: “I will not let you cause harm to yourself or others” until they calm their raging dictator child down. Exerting will over another with restraint is only done as a defense of the will being exerted over others with violence. In order to maintain freedom and free-will, some amount of restraint is required of us all to avoid self-sabotage: an act of weathering the war within, amidst the wars that surround.
When applying restraint to another in war, it would be neither as mild as a hug nor severe as death. It’s the act of stopping one person from hurting many, so that we may avoid history repeating itself. Hitler did not act alone. Those who followed orders are as much to blame as he. Do not kill innocent people just because an authoritarian tells you to. As a parent would say, “If everyone were jumping off the top of the roof would you jump too?” We question authority when it undermines humanity. War undermines humanity, and those with nuclear weapons have the power to annihilate all of humanity. We must think for ourselves, act with courage, and be held accountable for our actions (and inactions, as the case may be). Remember the power of one, for good or for evil, and stand in nonviolent civil resistance to the savagery of war. Keep in mind Erica Chenoweth’s compelling research that when 3.5% of a population actively participate, they can create change. Be forewarned, this is only possible if we protect freedom and prevent censorship. Protecting freedom should be the number one priority of every human alive today. The censorship we support today will boomerang against us tomorrow. We cannot oppose tyranny if we support censorship.
4. Wake up! War between humans is antiquated, barbaric, and unnecessary. There’s always another way. Anything can be negotiated with maturity, without the necessity for violence, as long as we have free speech. Humanity is whole; we are one. To see any human as dispensable is to see a part of ourselves, our limbs, as dispensable. May the travesties of war awaken in us the empathy that real lives are lost in war. This is not a video game. We cannot afford to be apathetic, believing it has nothing to do with us. The Internet has made our world small and deeply connected. War anywhere impacts lives everywhere. We are not just a global economy, we are a global community. The number one action we can do wherever we are is to support and encourage protests that empower the “parents” to rise up. For only when we raise our voices do we know our own strength and power to protect our freedom.
Listen to the people who have recovered from a life in which they were oppressed by a parent or spouse who was abusive or struggled with addiction. Great wisdom, as to how to prevent and end war, can be gleaned in observing how those who have survived trauma have learned to manage chaos and dissolve dysfunction in their own families—through freedom, boundaries, and an understanding of oneness. Language, love, listening, and trust are our greatest tools for communicating and resolving differences. We are all too smart and savvy from our own personal traumas to allow another world war, or a Hitler to happen again. We must make our purpose singular and speak in favor of any person protesting for all protests are at their core about FREEDOM and we all desire to remain free.
5. Resist distraction. Determine motive. Discern manipulation. Pay attention: the threat and people may be real but there could still be a “Wag the Dog” element at play. Ask the questions, “Why this war, why now, and what am I turning my attention from to turn my attention toward this conflict?”
We can and should send aide to help support refugees. However, the responsibility to end the war is in the hands of those from where it began. Peace is possible, but it doesn’t happen passively. The citizens of that country must parent with restraint the child who started the war, in order to save the entire world from further destruction.
— © Sage Justice 2022
If you find my words useful, please subscribe to my newsletter at SageJustice.Substack.com
Sage Justice, author of “Sage Words FREEDOM Book One.” If you’d like to read more pieces like this, please check out the book on Amazon, monthly articles at SageJustice.Substack.com, videos on YouTube (Sage Words: Almost Everything You Need to Know), inspiration on IG @SageWords2027, website and the podcast: Sage Words (Apple & Spotify). A like and follow on the Sage Justice, author page, on facebook is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
#HowToEndAWar